Burlington condo fraudster Brett Leahey gets four years in prison
Hamilton Spectator
By Teviah Moro
17 November 2016
BURLINGTON — A 47-year-old con artist who stole $3 million from 13 area
condo corporations while managing their buildings has been sentenced to
four years in prison.
Brett MacKenzie Leahey will also have to pay a $3 million fine within
10 years of his release from penitentiary, Justice Al Cooper ruled
Thursday.
Cooper said he's confident that Leahey, applying the "intelligence he's
obviously blessed with" and ingenuity he used to defraud his victims,
will be able to pay the fine in time.
But if not, he faces another 10 years in prison, the judge warned.
Main Street West John Rennison, The Hamilton Spectator
The owners of Highland Mews, 1983 Main St. W., are now managing their own affairs after falling victims to a fraud scheme.
Leahey, who pleaded guilty Oct. 13, carried out the scam between 2009 and 2014. Halton police charged him last year.
Leahey, dressed in a button-down shirt and blue jeans, was led from the
prisoner's box out of the courtroom before about 25 of his victims.
Outside court, Arthur Joyce said the sentence was reasonable but added
the punishment can't compensate for lost homes and ruined retirements
of the condo owners Leahey duped.
"He's a predator. The question is what's he going to do when he does
get out. Is he going to go right back at it and do the same thing?"
Joyce hired Leahey to manage his 15-unit complex on Harvester Road in Burlington.
He hopes the province can "tighten up" provisions in the Condominium Act to protect boards from fraudsters.
In 2009, Leahey was convicted of fraud over $5,000 and ordered to pay $427,942 in restitution.
It was suggested in court, but not proven, Leahey's lawyer Lorne Sabsay
noted, that he used funds from the more recent scheme to pay that fine.
Sabsay had asked Cooper to allow his client 20 years to pay the $3 million.
Given his pretrial custody, Leahey has 39 months to serve in prison.
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